Image Recognition Scoring Visualization

ABSTRACT

A system and method for image processing result visualization. The method includes receiving a job, wherein the job includes a panoramic image and image recognition information, and creating a visualization based on the job, wherein the visualization includes the panoramic image with the image recognition information layered over the panoramic image.

BACKGROUND

Field of the Invention

The specification generally relates to displaying processed informationlayered on a panoramic image. In particular, the specification relatesto a system and method for generating a visualization of the panoramicimage and layering the processed information relating to recognizedproducts onto the panoramic image.

Description of the Background Art

A planogram is a visual representation of products in a retailenvironment. For example, a planogram may describe where in the retailenvironment and in what quantity products should be located. Suchplanograms are known to be effective tools for increasing sales,managing inventory and otherwise ensuring that the desired quantity andsizes of an item are placed to optimize profits or other parameters.However, presentation and maintenance of adequate levels of stock onshelves, racks and display stands is a labor-intensive effort, therebymaking enforcement of planograms difficult. The location and quantity ofproducts in retail stores can be manually tracked by a user.

Analyzing stock on shelves, racks and displays is made even moredifficult when stock is present on a shelf, rack or display in the wronglocation. Even with a detailed planogram, manual tracking might notcatch those errors. Previous attempts at recognizing products usingimage processing have deficiencies. The large amounts of informationbeing presented to a user can be overwhelming and might still not catchany stocking errors.

SUMMARY

The techniques introduced herein overcome the deficiencies andlimitations of the prior art, at least in part, with a system and methodfor image recognition results visualization. In one embodiment, a systemand method for visualization of image recognition results includesrequesting a job related to a token and receiving the job related to thetoken, the job includes a panoramic image and metadata, processing themetadata to extract image recognition information and creating avisualization of the job. The visualization includes the panoramic imagewith the image recognition information layered over the panoramic image.

In another embodiment, a system and method for comparing visualizationof image recognition results includes requesting a job and receiving thejob, the job includes a series of panoramic images and image recognitioninformation related to images in the series of panoramic images,creating a first visualization of an image in the series of panoramicimages by layering the image recognition information over the image andpresenting the first visualization in a timeline on a display.

Other aspects include corresponding methods, systems, apparatuses, andcomputer program products for these and other innovative aspects.

The features and advantages described herein are not all-inclusive andmany additional features and advantages will be apparent to one ofordinary skill in the art in view of the figures and description.Moreover, it should be noted that the language used in the specificationhas been principally selected for readability and instructional purposesand not to limit the scope of the techniques described.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The techniques introduced herein are illustrated by way of example, andnot by way of limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings inwhich like reference numerals are used to refer to similar elements.

FIG. 1 is a high-level block diagram illustrating one embodiment of asystem for displaying processed information on a panoramic image.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a computingdevice including an analysis application.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating one embodiment of a method forcreating a visualization.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating another embodiment of the methodfor creating a visualization.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating yet another embodiment of themethod for creating a visualization.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating one embodiment of a method forpresenting a visualization on a timeline.

FIG. 7 is a graphical representation a device capturing an image.

FIG. 8 is a graphical representation of an embodiment of a userinterface displaying a panoramic image.

FIG. 9 is a graphical representation of another embodiment of the userinterface displaying a visualization.

FIG. 10 is a graphical representation of yet another embodiment of theuser interface displaying a visualization.

FIG. 11 is a graphical representation of yet another embodiment of theuser interface displaying a visualization.

FIGS. 12A-12C are graphical representations of further embodiments ofuser interfaces displaying visualizations.

FIG. 13 is a graphical representation of an embodiment of a userinterface displaying a visualization in a timeline.

FIG. 14 is a graphical representation of another embodiment of the userinterface displaying a visualization in a timeline.

FIGS. 15A-15C are graphical representations of further embodiments ofuser interfaces displaying visualizations in timelines.

FIG. 16 is a graphical representation of another embodiment of the userinterface displaying visualizations in timelines.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a high-level block diagram illustrating one embodiment of asystem 100 for displaying processed information on a panoramic image.The illustrated system 100 may have a device 101 that can be accessed bya user and a processing server 107. The device 101 and/or the processingserver 107 may include an analysis application 103. In FIG. 1 and theremaining figures, a letter after a reference number, e.g., “103 a,”represents a reference to the element having that particular referencenumber. A reference number in the text without a following letter, e.g.,“103,” represents a general reference to instances of the elementbearing that reference number. In the illustrated embodiment, theseentities of the system 100 are communicatively coupled via a network105.

The network 105 can be a conventional type, wired or wireless, and mayhave numerous different configurations including a star configuration,token ring configuration or other configurations. Furthermore, thenetwork 105 may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network(WAN) (e.g., the Internet), and/or other interconnected data pathsacross which multiple devices may communicate. In some embodiments, thenetwork 105 may be a peer-to-peer network. The network 105 may also becoupled to or include portions of a telecommunications network forsending data in a variety of different communication protocols. In someembodiments, the network 105 may include Bluetooth communicationnetworks or a cellular communications network for sending and receivingdata including via short messaging service (SMS), multimedia messagingservice (MMS), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), direct dataconnection, WAP, email, etc. Although FIG. 1 illustrates one network 105coupled to the device 101 and the processing server 107, in practice oneor more networks 105 can be connected to these entities.

In some embodiments, the system 100 includes a processing server 107coupled to the network 105. In some embodiments, the processing server107 may be either a hardware server, a software server, or a combinationof software and hardware. The processing server 107 may be, or may beimplemented by, a computing device including a processor, a memory,applications, a database, and network communication capabilities. In theexample of FIG. 1, the components of the processing server 107 areconfigured to implement an analysis application 103 b described in moredetail below. In one embodiment, the processing server 107 providesservices to a consumer packaged goods firm for identifying products onshelves, racks, or displays. While the examples herein describerecognition of products in an image of shelves, such as a retaildisplay, it should be understood that the image may include anyarrangement of organized objects. For example, the image may be of awarehouse, stockroom, store room, cabinet, etc. Similarly, the objects,in addition to retail products, may be tools, parts used inmanufacturing, construction or maintenance, medicines, first aidsupplies, emergency or safety equipment, etc.

In some embodiments, the processing server 107 sends and receives datato and from other entities of the system 100 via the network 105. Forexample, the processing server 107 sends and receives data includingimages to and from the device 101. The images received by the processingserver 107 can include an image captured by the device 101, an imagecopied from a website or an email, or an image from any other source.Although only a single processing server 107 is shown in FIG. 1, itshould be understood that there may be any number of recognition servers101 or a server cluster. The processing server 107 also may include adata storage 243, which is described below in more detail with referenceto FIG. 2.

The device 101 may be a computing device that includes a memory, aprocessor and a camera, for example a laptop computer, a desktopcomputer, a tablet computer, a mobile telephone, a smartphone, apersonal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile email device, a webcam, auser wearable computing device or any other electronic device capable ofaccessing a network 105. The device 101 provides general graphics andmultimedia processing for any type of application. The device 101includes a display for viewing information provided by the processingserver 107. While FIG. 1 illustrates a single device 101, the disclosureapplies to a system architecture having one or more devices 101.

The device 101 is adapted to send and receive data to and from theprocessing server 107. For example, the device 101 sends a query imageto the processing server 107 and the processing server 107 provides datain JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) format about one or more objectsrecognized in the query image to the device 101.

The analysis application 103 may include software and/or logic toprovide the functionality for capturing a series of images to create apanoramic image and creating a visualization to overlay on the panoramicimage. In some embodiments, the analysis application 103 can beimplemented using programmable or specialized hardware, such as afield-programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application-specificintegrated circuit (ASIC). In some embodiments, the analysis application103 can be implemented using a combination of hardware and software. Inother embodiments, the analysis application 103 may be stored andexecuted on a combination of the device 101 and/or the processing server107, or by any one of the device 101 and/or processing server 107.

In some embodiments, the analysis application 103 acts as a thin-clientapplication with some functionality executed on the device 101 byanalysis application 103 a and additional functionality executed on theprocessing server 107 by analysis application 103 b. For example, theanalysis application 103 a on the device 101 could include softwareand/or logic for capturing the image, transmitting the image to theprocessing server 107, and displaying image recognition results withvisualizations overlaid. A thin-client application 103 b may includefurther functionality described herein with reference to analysisapplication 103, such as, processing the image and performing featureidentification.

In some embodiments, the analysis application 103 receives an image of aportion of an object of interest from a capture device 245. The analysisapplication 103 determines features of the image. The analysisapplication 103 generates a user interface including a panoramic imageof a series of images with features of the images highlighted in avisualization overlaid on the panoramic image a display of device 101.The operation of the analysis application 103 and the functions listedabove are described below in more detail below.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating one embodiment of a computingdevice 200 including an analysis application 103. The computing device200 may also include a processor 235, a memory 237, a communication unit241, data storage 243, display device 239, a capture device 245, and anoutput device 249 according to some examples. The components of thecomputing device 200 are communicatively coupled by a bus or softwarecommunication mechanism 220. The bus or software communication mechanism220 may represent one or more buses including an industry standardarchitecture (ISA) bus, a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus, auniversal serial bus (USB), or some other bus known in the art toprovide similar functionality. In some embodiments, the computing device200 may be the device 101, the processing server 107, or a combinationof the device 101 and the processing server 107. In such embodimentswhere the computing device 200 is the device 101 and/or the processingserver 107, it should be understood that the device 101, and theprocessing server 107 may include other components not shown in FIG. 2.

The processor 235 may execute software instructions by performingvarious input/output, logical, and/or mathematical operations. Theprocessor 235 may have various computing architectures to process datasignals including, for example, a complex instruction set computer(CISC) architecture, a reduced instruction set computer (RISC)architecture, and/or an architecture implementing a combination ofinstruction sets. The processor 235 may be physical and/or virtual, andmay include a single processing unit or a plurality of processing unitsand/or cores. In some implementations, the processor 235 may be capableof generating and providing electronic display signals to a displaydevice, supporting the display of images, capturing and transmittingimages, performing complex tasks including various types of featureextraction and sampling, etc. In some implementations, the processor 235may be coupled to the memory 237 via the bus or software communicationmechanism 220 to access data and instructions therefrom and store datatherein. The bus or software communication mechanism 220 may couple theprocessor 235 to the other components of the computing device 200including, for example, the memory 237, the communication unit 241, theanalysis application 103, and the data storage 243. It will be apparentto one skilled in the art that other processors, operating systems,sensors, displays and physical configurations are possible.

The memory 237 may store and provide access to data for the othercomponents of the computing device 200. The memory 237 may be includedin a single computing device or distributed among a plurality ofcomputing devices as discussed elsewhere herein. In someimplementations, the memory 237 may store instructions and/or data thatmay be executed by the processor 235. The instructions and/or data mayinclude code for performing the techniques described herein. Forexample, in one embodiment, the memory 237 may store the analysisapplication 103. The memory 237 is also capable of storing otherinstructions and data, including, for example, an operating system,hardware drivers, other software applications, databases, etc. Thememory 237 may be coupled to the bus or software communication mechanism220 for communication with the processor 235 and the other components ofthe computing device 200.

The memory 237 may include one or more non-transitory computer-usable(e.g., readable, writeable) device, a static random access memory (SRAM)device, a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), an embedded memorydevice, a discrete memory device (e.g., a PROM, FPROM, ROM), a hard diskdrive, an optical disk drive (CD, DVD, Blu-Ray™, etc.) mediums, whichcan be any tangible apparatus or device that can contain, store,communicate, or transport instructions, data, computer programs,software, code, routines, etc., for processing by or in connection withthe processor 235. In some implementations, the memory 237 may includeone or more of volatile memory and non-volatile memory. It should beunderstood that the memory 237 may be a single device or may includemultiple types of devices and configurations.

The communication unit 241 is hardware and/or software for receiving andtransmitting data by linking the processor 235 to the network 105 andother processing systems. The communication unit 241 receives data suchas requests from the device 101 and transmits the requests to thecontroller 201, for example a request to process an image. Thecommunication unit 241 also transmits information including recognitionresults to the device 101 for display, for example, in response toprocessing the image. The communication unit 241 is coupled to the busor software communication mechanism 220. In one embodiment, thecommunication unit 241 may include a port for direct physical connectionto the device 101 or to another communication channel. For example, thecommunication unit 241 may include an RJ45 port or similar port forwired communication with the device 101. In another embodiment, thecommunication unit 241 may include a wireless transceiver (not shown)for exchanging data with the device 101 or any other communicationchannel using one or more wireless communication methods, such as IEEE802.11, IEEE 802.16, Bluetooth® or another suitable wirelesscommunication method.

In yet another embodiment, the communication unit 241 may include acellular communications transceiver for sending and receiving data overa cellular communications network such as via short messaging service(SMS), multimedia messaging service (MMS), hypertext transfer protocol(HTTP), direct data connection, WAP, e-mail or another suitable type ofelectronic communication. In still another embodiment, the communicationunit 241 may include a wired port and a wireless transceiver. Thecommunication unit 241 also provides other conventional connections tothe network 105 for distribution of files and/or media objects usingstandard network protocols such as TCP/IP, HTTP, HTTPS and SMTP as willbe understood to those skilled in the art.

The data storage 243 is a non-transitory memory that stores data forproviding the functionality described herein. The data storage 243 maybe a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) device, a static random accessmemory (SRAM) device, flash memory or some other memory devices. In someembodiments, the data storage 243 also may include a non-volatile memoryor similar permanent storage device and media including a hard diskdrive, a floppy disk drive, a CD-ROM device, a DVD-ROM device, a DVD-RAMdevice, a DVD-RW device, a flash memory device, or some other massstorage device for storing information on a more permanent basis.

In the illustrated embodiment, the data storage 243 is communicativelycoupled to the bus or software communication mechanism 220. The datastorage 243 stores data for analyzing a received image and results ofthe analysis and other functionality as described herein. For example,the data storage 243 may store a captured image and the set of featuresdetermined for the captured image. Additionally, the data storage 243may store a stitched linear panoramic image. Additionally, the datastorage 243 may store image recognition results for the creating of avisualization. The data stored in the data storage 243 is describedbelow in more detail.

In the illustrated embodiment, the display device 239 may be a screenfor displaying a preview image or a user interface. The display device239 may be configured to connect to the processor 235 and data storage243 via the bus or software communication mechanism 220 and receiveinformation from the analysis application 103. The display device 239may be incorporated into a mobile phone, tablet, computer, camera, orother device capable of being configured with a display screen.

In the illustrated embodiment, the capture device 245 may be a devicecapable of capturing images of an object. The capture device 245 may beany device capable of capturing an image, including a camera, or similardevice. The capture device 245 may be a stand-alone device or configuredto be part of a device 101. The capture device 245 may be configured toconnect to the processor 235 and data storage 243 via the bus orsoftware communication mechanism 220 and receive and send informationfrom the analysis application 103.

In some embodiments, the analysis application 103 may include acontroller 201, a processing module 203, a user interface module 205, astitching module 207, and an analysis module 209. The components of theanalysis application 103 are communicatively coupled via the bus orsoftware communication mechanism 220.

In some embodiments, the modules of the analysis application 103 can beimplemented using programmable or specialized hardware including afield-programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application-specificintegrated circuit (ASIC). In some embodiments, the modules can beimplemented using a combination of hardware and software executable bythe processor 235. In some implementations, the modules are stored inmemory 237 and are accessible and executable by the processor 235.

The controller 201 may include software and/or logic to control theoperation of the other components of the analysis application 103. Thecontroller 201 controls the other components of the analysis application103 to perform the methods described below with reference to FIGS. 3-6.The controller 201 may also include software and/or logic to provide thefunctionality for handling communications between the analysisapplication 103 and other components of the computing device 200 as wellas between the components of the analysis application 103. In someimplementations, the controller 201 is adapted for cooperation andcommunication with the processor 235, the memory 237 and othercomponents of the analysis application 103 via the bus or softwarecommunication mechanism 220.

In some embodiments, the controller 201 sends and receives data, via thecommunication unit 241, to and from one or more of the device 101 andthe processing server 107. For example, the controller 201 receives, viathe communication unit 241, an image from a device 101 operated by auser and sends the image to the processing module 203, the stitchingmodule 207, the analysis module 209, the user interface module 205, orthe analysis module 209. In another example, the controller 201 receivesimage recognition information for creating a visualization from theprocessing module 209 and sends the data to the device 101, causing thedevice 101 to present the visualization to the user using the userinterface module 205.

In some embodiments, the controller 201 receives data from othercomponents of the analysis application 103 and stores the data in thedata storage 243. For example, the controller 201 receives dataincluding features identified for an image from the processing module203 and stores the data in the data storage 243. In other embodiments,the controller 201 retrieves data from the data storage 243 and sendsthe data to other components of the analysis application 103. Forexample, the controller 201 retrieves data including a series of imagesfrom the data storage 243 and sends the data including the series ofimages to the stitching module 207 for stitching into a single panoramicimage. In another example, the controller 201 retrieves data including apanoramic image from the data storage 243 and sends the data includingthe panoramic image to the processing module 203 for post processing. Inanother example, the controller 201 retrieves image recognitioninformation form the data storage 243 and send the image recognitioninformation to the analysis module 209 to extract information that isfurther sent to the user interface module 205 to create a visualization.

The processing module 203 may include software and/or logic to performimage recognition on an image. In some implementations, the processingmodule 203 is adapted for cooperation and communication with theprocessor 235, the memory 237 and other components of the analysisapplication 103 via the bus or software communication mechanism 220. Insome embodiments the processing module 203 may be configured to receivean image related to a job and assign a token for that specific job. Ajob may be a series of images that may be stitched together to create apanoramic image. The processing module 203 may perform image recognitionon the image related to the job to create metadata. The metadata mayinclude image recognition information. The processing module 203 mayassign the token related to the job to the image recognition informationand store the image recognition information related to the job in thedata storage 243. The image recognition information the processingmodule 203 creates may include a JSON string including sub-JSONstructures. The sub-JSON structures may represent linear groupings. Thelinear groupings may be a collection of horizontal features in the imagethat the processing module 203 recognizes contain horizontal features ofproducts. The sub-JSON structures may include facing structures. Thefacing structures may be a stack of products in a region of a shelf. Thesub-JSON structure may include a list of recognized products and theirlocation and rectangle size, as well as a product indicator that may begraphical displayed around the boundary of the recognized product.

The stitching module 207 may include software and/or logic to providethe functionality for receiving a series of images to stitch a singlelinear panoramic image. In some implementations, the stitching module207 is stored in the memory 237 and is accessible and executable by theprocessor 235. In some implementations, the stitching module 207 isadapted for cooperation and communication with the processor 235, thememory 237 and other components of the analysis application 103 via thebus or software communication mechanism 220. In some embodiments, thestitching module 207 may be configured to receive or request an imagethat includes a token related to a job from the processing module 203.The stitching module 207 may use the token to retrieve a series ofimages from the data storage 243 related to the job and including thesame token. The stitching module 207 may stitch together the receivedimage and the retrieved images that include the same token and arerelated to the same job. The resulting stitched image created by thestitching module 207 is a linear panoramic image that relates to a joband is assigned the same token as the individual images related to thejob that the linear panoramic image is made up of. The linear panoramicimage is stitched together by the stitching module 207 to display a fullset of shelves. The full set of shelves in some embodiments may be toolarge for a capture device 245 to capture in a single image, therefore aseries of images of a product shelf may be captured and stitchedtogether by the stitching module 207 to create a linear panoramic imageof the product shelf.

The analysis module 209 may include software and/or logic to provide thefunctionality for performing extracting relevant information from theimage recognition information. In some implementations, the analysismodule 209 is adapted for cooperation and communication with theprocessor 235, the memory 237 and other components of the analysisapplication 103 via the bus or software communication mechanism 220. Insome embodiments the analysis module 209 receives image recognitioninformation in the form of metadata related to a job. The imagerecognition information in the form of metadata includes a tokenspecific to the job. The analysis module 209 may extract from themetadata information that the user interface module 205 may use tocreate a visualization. In some embodiments, the analysis module 209 mayreceive image recognition information in the form of metadata thatincludes a JSON string of image recognition information. The analysismodule 209 may extract from the information from the JSON string relatedto linear groupings, facings structures, recognized products, andproduct indicators related to the recognized products. In someimplementations, the JSON string may also include a URL representing thefinal stitched panoramic image created by the stitching module 207 thatthe analysis module 209 may use for the user interface module 205 to usein retrieving a stitched panoramic image related to a job. In someembodiments, the functions of the analysis module 209 may beincorporated into the processing module 203, while in other embodiments,the functions of the analysis module 209 may be incorporated into theuser interface module 205.

The user interface module 205 may include software and/or logic forcreating a visualization and providing user interfaces displaying thevisualization to a user. In some implementations, the user interfacemodule 205 is adapted for cooperation and communication with theprocessor 235, the memory 237 and other components of the analysisapplication 103 via the bus or software communication mechanism 220. Insome embodiments, the user interface module 205 receives instructionsfrom a device 101 to display a visualization of a job. The userinterface module 205 requests the job from data storage 243 using atoken related to the job. The user interface module 205 receives the jobrelated to the token from the data storage 243, wherein the job includesa stitched panoramic image created by the stitching module 207 and imagerecognition information in the form of metadata created by theprocessing module 203. The user interface module 205 may send themetadata including the image recognition information to the analysismodule 209 for the analysis module to extract information related to theimage recognition information. The user interface module 205 may receivethe extracted information from the analysis module 209 and may create avisualization of the job by mapping or overlaying the extracted imagerecognition information over the stitched panoramic image. Inalternative embodiments, the user interface module 205 may receivepreprocessed jobs that may have been previously analyzed. In someembodiments, the user interface module 205 may include in thevisualization, product indicators layered over recognized productsdisplayed in the panoramic image. The user interface module 205 mayfurther display a recognized product list and allow a user to interactwith the recognized product list and score a recognized producthighlighted by a product indicator and displayed in the visualization,as discussed more fully with reference to FIGS. 5, 9, 10, and 11.

In some embodiments, the user interface module 205 receives instructionsfrom the controller 201 or other modules of the analysis application 103to generate a graphical user interface that displays a visualizationthat includes a stitched panoramic image with image recognitioninformation mapped or layered upon the stitched panoramic image. In suchan embodiment, the user interface module 205 receives the stitchedpanoramic image, related to a job and assigned a specific token,directly from the stitching module 207. The user interface module 205may also receive the metadata including image recognition information,related to a job and assigned a specific token, directly from theprocessing module 203.

In some embodiments, the user interface module 205 receives instructionsfrom the controller 201 or other modules of the analysis application 103to generate a graphical user interface that compares two visualizationsand highlights recognized products in the visualizations. In otherembodiments, the user interface module 205 sends graphical userinterface data to an application (e.g., a browser) in the device 101 viathe communication unit 241 causing the application to display thegraphical user interface data as a graphical user interface.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram 300 illustrating one embodiment of a method forcreating a visualization. At 302, user interface module 205 requests ajob related to a token. The token is related to previously processedinformation related to a job. For example, a token may be generated andassigned to a series of images related to a job, when a processingmodule 203 receives an image in a series of images for processing. Thetoken may be assigned to all of the images in the series of images thatare in turn stitched together into a single linear panoramic image bythe stitching module 207. The token may be any type of label or keydesigned to assist in the lookup of images and metadata attached to theimages. Each job receives a different token, to assist in identifyingdifferent series of images and metadata. At 304, the user interfacemodule 205 receives the job related to the token, wherein the jobincludes a panoramic image and metadata. For example, the panoramicimage is a single linear panoramic image stitched together by stitchingmodule 207. The metadata included in the job may include any datarelated to the images in the series of images from the processing module203.

In some embodiments, the metadata may be a JSON string representing therecognition performed by the processing module 203. The JSON string mayinclude a sub-JSON structure representing recognized linear groupings inthe panoramic image. The sub-JSON structure may also include recognizedfacing structures in the panoramic image. The sub-JSON structure mayalso include a list of recognized products, their locations, and productindicators. The JSON string may also include a URL representing thefinal stitched image.

At 306, the analysis module 209 processes the metadata to extract imagerecognition information. For example, the image recognition informationmay include the recognized linear groupings, individual facingstructures, a list of recognized products and their locations, productindicators for each recognized product, or a URL representing the finalstitched image. At 308, the user interface module 205 creates avisualization of the job, including the panoramic image and the imagerecognition information layered or mapped over the panoramic image. Forexample, the panoramic image may be a stitched image of a series ofimages of product shelves. The image recognition information may includerecognized products and the recognized products may be highlighted byproduct indicators. The product indicators may be layered over thepanoramic image by the user interface module 205 highlighting fordisplay the recognized products.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram 400 illustrating another embodiment of a methodfor creating a visualization. At 402, the processing module 203 receivesan image of a retail setting. At 404, the processing module 203 assignsa token to the image. At 406, the processing module 203 processes theimage for image recognition and assigns the metadata associated with theimage recognition to the token. At 408, the stitching module 205stitches the processed image with a plurality of other images associatedwith the token to form a single panoramic image. At 410, the analysisapplication 103 stores the processed image, the stitched image, and themetadata in a database. At 412, the analysis application 103 provides tothe user interface module 205 the processed image, the stitched image,and the metadata to an application in the form of a JSON string.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram 500 illustrating yet another embodiment of amethod of a method for creating a visualization. At 502, the userinterface module 205 displays a panoramic image in a user interface ondevice 101 as shown and discussed with reference to FIG. 8. At 504, theuser interface module 205 highlights recognized products in thepanoramic image using information extracted by the analysis module 209as shown and discussed with reference to FIG. 9. In some embodiments,the user interface module 205 may also highlight linear groupings,individual facing structures, or other features of interest in thepanoramic image. At 506, the user interface module 205 displays aselected product and a product recognition list based on the recognizedproduct for a user to select an indicator for the selected product asshown and discussed with reference to FIG. 10. At 508, the userinterface module 205 updates the panoramic image based on the indicatoras shown and discussed with reference to FIG. 11.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram 600 illustrating an embodiment for presenting avisualization in a timeline. At 602, the user interface module 205requests a job. At 604, the user interface module 205 receives the job,wherein the job includes a series of panoramic images and imagerecognition information related to images in the series of panoramicimages. At 606, the user interface module 205 creates a firstvisualization of an image in the series of panoramic images by layeringthe image recognition information over the image. At 608, the userinterface module 205 presents the first visualization in a timeline on adisplay, as shown and discussed with reference to FIG. 13.

As shown in FIG. 7, the FIG. 700 illustrates an example for capturing animage of a shelf 703. A user may use the device 701, in some embodimentsdevice 701 may be device 101 or another device capable of capturing animage, to capture the image of the shelf 703. The shelf 703 may includeproducts 705 representing different products on the shelf 703. Forexample, 705 a displays a breakfast cereal product, 705 b displays adifferent breakfast cereal product, and 705 c displays a third breakfastcereal product. The shelf 703, may be any shelf that may hold a product,or the shelf may be replaced by a region, an artwork, a landmark, ascenic location, outer space, etc.

In some embodiments, the user interface module 205 receives a requestfrom a user of the device 101 to capture an image of an object ofinterest. For example, the image can be an image of a shelf, a region,an artwork, a landmark, a scenic location, outer space, etc. The device101 captures an image and provides it to the processing module 203. Theanalysis application 103 may instruct the user interface module 205 togenerate a user interface for guiding a user in capturing the imageusing the device 101. The image of the shelf may be received forrecognition. For example, the image can be an image of packaged productson a shelf (e.g., coffee packages, breakfast cereal boxes, soda bottles,etc.) in a retail store. The packaged product may include textual andpictorial information printed on its surface that distinguishes it fromother items on the shelf. In one example, the user interface module 205may cause the display of the device 101 to flash to indicate that theimage was captured in response to the user tapping the screen. In someembodiments, the processing module 203 identifies a set of features fromthe image and a relative location to a point in the image (e.g., thelocation of one identified feature) where each feature occurs. In someembodiments, the device 101 stores the captured image and the set ofidentified features in a cache. In other embodiments, the device 101sends the captured image to the processing server 107.

For purposes of creating a linear panoramic image using a series ofimages, the user may move the device 101 in any direction whileremaining parallel to the shelving unit for capturing subsequent imagesfollowing a first image. For example, the device 101 can move in anorth, south, east, or west direction while remaining parallel to theshelving unit for capturing other images in the series. In someembodiments, the user interface module 205 receives a user selection ofa pattern of image capture for capturing the series of images. Theanalysis application 103 instructs the user interface module 205 toprovide guidance to the user via the device 101 on how to capture a nextimage in the series of images based on the selected pattern of imagecapture. The images in the series of images may then be stitchedtogether into a linear panoramic image by the stitching module 207.

FIG. 8 is a graphical representation of an embodiment of a userinterface, created by the user interface module 205, displaying apanoramic image. A display device 801 displays an image of an exampleuser interface for viewing a stitched panoramic image 803 and providestools for interacting with the stitched panoramic image 803. The displaydevice 801 may be a device 101 or may be another device configured todisplay visualizations from an analysis application 103. A menu tool 805may be included in the user interface and provide a user access tocommon menu functions, such as saving a job, printing a job, sharing ajob, opening a new job, closing a job or any other common menufunctions.

A tab bar 807 may be included in the user interface and provide a useraccess to a series of tabs controlling different views in the userinterface. The different views provided by the tab bar 807 may include ascore view showing a score for a recognized product in the userinterface. The tab bar 807 may include a summary view showing a summaryof a job. The tab bar 807 may include a JSON text view allowing a userto view the text of a JSON string related to a job. The tab bar 807 mayinclude a JSON explorer for viewing the JSON data structure. The tab bar807 may include a URLs tab that shows the URLs of different images. Thetab bar 807 may include a tab showing captures of different imagesincluded in a job. The tab bar 807 may include a product database tabshowing a database of products.

A control bar 809 may be included in the user interface for manipulatingthe stitched panoramic image 803. The control bar 809 may include zoomcontrols for viewing the stitched panoramic image 803 or anyvisualization data at a longer perspective view or a closer view asmanipulated by a user. The control bar 809 may include scores modes fordisplaying different modes of scoring boxes for viewing a visualizationas will be further discussed in FIG. 9. The control bar 809 may includea palette tool for viewing the display on the user interface indifferent colors as manipulated by a user.

FIG. 9 is a graphical representation 900 of another embodiment of theuser interface displaying a visualization. The display device 801 maydisplay a stitched panoramic image 803 in the user interface. Avisualization 903 may be overlaid or mapped over the stitched panoramicimage 803 using image recognition information received from the analysisapplication 103. The visualization 903 may include product indicators901 a-901 c to highlight recognized product images in the stitchedpanoramic image 803. The visualization 903 highlights products that theimage recognition information from the processing module 203 determinesto be the same product with a same product indicator 901. The productindicators 901 a-901 c may highlight different products with differentshapes or patterns of product indicators. For examine, the productindicator 901 a around a recognized product is a different pattern fromthe product indicators 901 b and 901 c around second and thirdrespective recognized products. The visualization 903 highlightsrecognized product in the stitched panoramic image 803 based on imagerecognition information from the processing module 203. The productindicators may be any type of indicator, such as, a circle, square,rectangle or any other shape. Alternatively, in other embodiments, theproduct indicators may have varying patterns to indicate that productindicators are different. In other embodiments, the product indicatormay be colors or highlighted regions that differ from other colors orhighlighted regions. A user may be able to view the visualization 903and based on the highlighted product indicators 901 determine whichproducts are the same and different in a stitched panoramic image 803.

FIG. 10 is a graphical representation 1000 of another embodiment of theuser interface displaying a visualization. The display device 801 maydisplay a product recognition list 1001. The product recognition list1001 may be displayed over a portion of the visualization 903 or theuser interface may display the product recognition list 1001 in such away that all of the visualization 903 is still visible in the samescreen or different screens. A recognized product 1003 is highlighted bya product indicator in the visualization 903. The product indicator maybe selectable by a user, such that in response to a user selecting theproduct indicator the product recognition list 1001 is displayed on thescreen. For example, a user may select the product indicator around therecognized product 1003 and the product recognition list 1001 appears inthe user interface display information based on the recognized product1003. The product recognition list 1001 displays a recognized productimage 1005. The recognized product image 1005 is an image of therecognized product 1003 displaying to the user which product is beingdisplayed in the product recognition list 1001.

The product recognition list 1001 displays information about potentialcandidates 1007. The information about potential candidates 1007 ispulled from a product database. The product database includes productinformation and images of the products for use in image recognition. Theproduct recognition list 1001 may access that information in real timeto display potential candidates 1007 or in alternative embodiments, thepotential candidates 1007 are included in the image recognitioninformation received from the analysis application 103. The potentialcandidates 1007 are displayed in order based on a recognition score1009. The recognition score may be generated by the analysis application103 based on similarities between the recognized product image 1005 andimages in the product database. In one example, the product recognitionlist 1001 displays the potential candidate 1007 a at the top of the listof potential candidates 1007 based on the recognition score 1009 a beingthe highest of the recognitions scores 1009. In some embodiments therecognition score 1009 is displayed as a percentage, or an icon of apercentage and in other embodiments the recognition score 1009 maydisplay the actual score or another indicator to represent therecognized score 1009 to the user. The potential candidate 1007 a at thetop of the list of potential candidates 1007 may be labeled as the topcandidate based on the recognized score 1009 a.

In some embodiments, the product recognition list 1001 is displayed to auser for the user to determine if the recognized product image 1005 isthe same as the top potential candidate 1007 a. The product recognitionlist 1001 may include a correctness button 1011 along with eachpotential candidate 1007 for a user to select based on which potentialcandidates 1007 are the same as the recognized product image 1005. Forexample, a user may be able to select that a potential candidate 1007 ais the same as the recognized product image 1005 by selecting a“correct” button as a type of correctness button 1011 a. In anotherexample, a user may be able to select an “incorrect” button as a type ofcorrectness button 1011 b when a potential candidate 1007 b includessimilarities to a recognized product image 1005. In another example auser may be able to select a “no match” button as a type of correctnessbutton 1011 when the recognized product image 1005 has no similaritiesto a potential candidate 1007 or there are no similar potentialcandidates in the product database. Similarities that may be consideredwhen determining a correctness include, but are not limited to, a sametype of product, a same or similar manufacturer, a same similarity inpackaging, etc. In some embodiments, the correctness button 1011displays a suspected correctness button 1011 based on the recognitionscore 1009 and in other embodiments, a user picks from a list ofcorrectness buttons 1011 the appropriate indicator.

A purpose of the product recognition list 1001 in these embodiments isto evaluate if the image recognition of the analysis application 103 wasable to correctly identify or at least similarly identify a recognizedproduct 1003 to a potential candidate 1007 from the product database. Insome embodiments the information gathered from user interaction with theproduct recognition list 1001 may be used to update the productdatabase. In some embodiments, in response to a user selecting acorrectness button 1011, the user interface module 205 may display acorrectness indicator 1013 matching the selected correctness button 1011on the visualization 903 as will be further discussed in FIG. 11. Insome embodiments, the user interface may display how many products auser has selected a correctness button 1011 for already and/or how manyproducts have not yet had a user select a correctness button 1011.

FIG. 11 is a graphical representation 1100 of another embodiment of theuser interface displaying a visualization. An updated visualization 1107may be displayed in the user interface. The updated visualization 1107may include the stitched panoramic image 803, the visualization 903including product indicators layered over the stitched panoramic image803, and correctness indicators 1013 further layered over the stitchedpanoramic image 803. The correctness indicators 1013 may be displayedover each of the products in the stitched panoramic image 803 to conveyinformation to a user about which products were recognized in theproduct database. The correctness indicators 1013 may be any image,icon, color or highlighting capable of conveying to a user a correctnessof a product. The recognition of the products in some embodiments may bebased on a top candidate and highest recognition score, while inalternative embodiments the recognition of the products may be performedby a user selecting a correctness button 1011 in a product recognitionlist 1001. In an example, a correctly identified product 1101 displays a“correct” correctness indicator 1013, an incorrectly identified product1103 displays an “incorrect” correctness indicator 1013, and a no matchidentified product 1105 displays a “no match” correctness indicator1013. In this example the updated visualization 1107 may be able todisplay correctness indicators 1013 over products in the updatedvisualization 1107. The updated visualization 1107 allows a user toanalyze the image recognition information in a visual manner. Byanalyzing the updated visualization 1107 a user or a computer mayrecognize errors and/or trends in recognition in some embodiments and inother embodiments, a user or computer may recognize where the image ofthe shelf deviates from a planogram.

FIG. 12A is a graphical representation 1200 of a further embodiment of auser interface displaying a visualization. In an example, a portion of ashelf 1201 displaying recognized products is shown. A perspective view1203 of the portion of the shelf 1201 is displayed for a user to moreclearly see what is present in the portion of the shelf 1201. In oneexample, in a planogram for the shelves displayed in the user interface,the portion of the shelf 1201 is displaying a correct product in theportion of the shelf 1201.

FIG. 12B is a graphical representation 1204 of a further embodiment of auser interface displaying a visualization. In an example, an emptyportion of a shelf 1205 is shown displaying an absence of a product thatwas present in the portion of the shelf 1201. A perspective view 1207 ofthe empty portion of the shelf 1205 is displayed for a user to see thata product is absent in the empty portion of the shelf 1205. A user maycompare the visualization on 1204 to the visualization in 1200displaying a correct product in the portion of the shelf 1201 todetermine what product is missing from the empty portion of the shelf1205. This is an example of how using a visualization, a user orcomputer can determine an out of stock product more quickly than simplyconsulting the planogram. In some embodiments a computer may compare thetwo visualizations and determine where a difference between a firstvisualization 1200 such as the correct product in the portion of theshelf 1201 deviates from a second visualization 1204 where a product isout of stock or missing as shown by the empty portion of the shelf 1205.

FIG. 12C is a graphical representation 1208 of a further embodiment of auser interface displaying a visualization. In an example, a wrongproduct is displayed in a portion of the shelf 1209. A perspective view1211 of the wrong product in the portion of the shelf 1209 is displayedfor a user to see displayed the wrong product in the portion of theshelf 1209. A user may compare the visualization on 1208 to thevisualization in 1200 displaying a correct product in the portion of theshelf 1201 to determine what product is the wrong product in the portionof the shelf 1209. This is an example of a “hidden out of stock”product, where in a planogram a certain product should appear in acertain portion of shelf, but a different product may be placed in thatportion of the shelf. In some examples, a “hidden out of stock” productmay be even more difficult to detect when a price tag is also removedfrom a shelf and there is no indication on the shelf of what product isactually supposed to be placed in that portion of the shelf. However, insome embodiments a computer may compare the two visualizations anddetermine where a difference between a first visualization 1200 such asthe correct product in the portion of the shelf 1201 deviates from the asecond visualization 1208 where a wrong product is placed on a shelf asshown by the wrong product in the portion of the shelf 1209.

In some embodiments, the user interface may display a visualization thathighlights a portion of the panoramic image that includes more than asingle recognized product. The highlighted portion in this embodiment isbased on recognized products within the highlighted portion sharingcharacteristics. In some examples, characteristics that may be sharedinclude products being produced by the same manufacturer, productsrepresenting a same type of product, or products having similar sizeand/or shape of packaging. In one embodiment, the image recognitioninformation received from the processing module 203 may include UPC(Universal Product Code) information. The processing module 203 mayanalyze the UPC information of each recognized product and based on theUPC of each recognized product, highlight portions of the panoramicimage sharing a similar UPC. The UPC may be similar if the productsshare a common manufacture, allowing a user to view where products areplaced on a shelf by a manufacturer.

In some embodiments, the user interface module 205 may display a userinterface that may include a visualization that highlights recognizedproducts, such as the visualization shown in FIG. 9. The user interfacemay then remove portions of the stitched panoramic image 903 that do notinclude highlighted recognized products. In such an embodiment, the userwould be left with only recognized products, making determination ofmistakes easier, as well as removing unnecessary data for further imageprocessing.

In some embodiments, the user interface may display two visualizationsin a single user interface. Such an embodiment allows a user to comparea first visualization to a second visualization and determinedifferences between the two visualizations. The visualizations may bedifferent visualizations in a series of images related to a single jobor in alternative embodiments, the visualizations may be from separatejobs. In yet another embodiment, the user interface may allow the twovisualizations to be displayed in the same area. A user can togglebetween the two visualizations, allowing them to alternatively bedisplayed in the same region of a user interface. In some embodiments,the user interface may provide an option for animating the twovisualizations such that the user interface toggles between the firstvisualization and the second visualization automatically, allowing auser to compare the two visualizations and highlight differences betweenthe visualizations as they separately appear and disappear in the userinterface.

FIG. 13 is a graphical representation 1300 of an embodiment of a userinterface displaying a visualization in a timeline. A currentvisualization 1301 is displayed of a series of shelf images stitchedtogether into a panoramic image. The images used to create thevisualization 1301 were captured at a specific time and the images usedto create a specific visualization are linked to a token representing ajob. Other images of the shelf captured at different times than thedisplayed image may be used to create separate visualizations ofseparate jobs of the shelf at different times, each of the separate jobsrepresented by a different token. A preview pane 1303 may displaythumbnails 1305 of other images or visualizations in the job captured atdifferent times than the current visualization 1301. A video tool 1307may be provided that allows the current visualization 1301 and the otherthumbnails 1305 to be displayed in an animated format as a video overtime. In one example, a user may select “play” in the video tool 1307and the current visualization 1301 will be replaced with the secondvisualization based on thumbnail 1305 a in the job and the secondvisualization will be displayed for a period of time in the userinterface. In response to a period of time expiring, the thirdvisualization based on thumbnail 1305 b in the job will replace thesecond visualization in the user interface and the third visualizationwill be displayed in the user interface for a period of time. In oneexample, the visualizations may be displayed in a video-like formatuntil a user selects “stop” on the video tool 1307. A timeline 1309 ofthe job may also be displayed in the user interface. The timeline 1309may include an indicator showing where the current visualization 1301appears in the time period of when pictures of the job were captured. Auser may interact with the timeline 1309 and move forward or backthrough series of images of the job captured over time to analyzechanges in the visualizations 1305 over the time period.

FIG. 14 is a graphical representation 1400 of another embodiment of auser interface displaying a visualization in a timeline. A visualization1401 and a visualization 1403 may be displayed concurrently in a userinterface. The visualization 1401 and the visualization 1403 may bevisualizations from the same job but captured at different times over aperiod of time. In an alternative embodiment, the visualization 1401 maybe related to a first job and the visualization 1403 may be related to asecond job. By displaying both the visualization 1401 and thevisualization 1403 concurrently in the user interface, a user may beable to compare the visualizations and identify differences between thevisualization 1401 and the visualization 1403.

In some embodiments, a product recognition pane 1405 may be displayed inthe user interface. The product recognition pane 1405 may display a listof recognized products present in visualization 1401 or visualization1403. The list of recognized products may be pulled from a productdatabase. The list may be generated when the visualization 1401 andvisualization 1403 are displayed or in alternative embodiments, the listof recognized products may be generated by the processing module 203 andincluded in the image recognition information as part of the job. Arecognized product 1407 in the list of recognized products may includean image of the product from the product database, a UPC assigned to therecognized product, and any other relevant product information from theproduct database.

FIG. 15A is a graphical representation 1500 of an embodiment of the userinterface displaying visualizations in a timeline. A recognized product1507 may be selectable by a user from a product recognition pane 1505.In response to a user selecting the recognized product 1507, thevisualization 1501 and the visualization 1503 will display where in therespective stitched panoramic images the recognized product 1507appears. In the example in FIG. 15A, the recognized product 1507 appearsin both visualizations. The visualization 1501 and the visualization1503 will update to highlight the recognized product 1507 by displayinga product indicator 1509 over the recognized product 1507 in thevisualizations. The product indicator 1509 highlights where in thevisualization 1501 and visualization 1503 the recognized product 1507appears. A user may be able to click on a product from the productrecognition pane 1505 and determine if the both displayed visualizationsin the job display the selected product. Using this feature, a user canquickly determine when visualizations are compliant with a planogram andmay highlight similarities between two visualizations that may bedifficult to recognize without the product indicators 1509 overlaid onthe visualizations.

FIG. 15B is a graphical representation 1510 of another embodiment of theuser interface displaying visualizations in a timeline. In thisembodiment, a recognized product 1507 is selected by a user andhighlighted by a product indicator 1509 a in the visualization 1501.However, visualization 1511 does not include the recognized product1507. An empty shelf area 1513 is present where the recognized product1507 appears in visualization 1501. In an example where recognizedproduct 1507 may be out of stock at the time the images used to createvisualization 1511 were captured. The user interface face displays apreview image 1515 of another instance of time in the job where the samerecognized product 1507 was absent from the captured images. Byselecting the recognized product 1507 from the product recognition pane1505, a user is quickly able to observe that the empty shelf area 1513is present in the visualization 1511 where recognized product 1507should appear. The user interface in this example provides a user with afeature that assists in determining compliance with a planogram. A userobserving the shelf or an image of the shelf without the visualizationsmay not recognize that a product is out of stock, especially when anitem is small and the space on the shelf the product occupies may bedifficult to observe.

FIG. 15C is a graphical representation 1516 of another embodiment of theuser interface displaying visualizations in a timeline. In thisembodiment, a recognized product 1507 is selected by a user andhighlighted by a product indicator 1509 a in the visualization 1501.However, visualization 1517 does not include the recognized product1507. A different product 1519 is present in visualization 1517 wherethe recognized product 1507 appears in the visualization 1501. In anexample where the recognized product 1507 was replaced by the differentproduct 1519 on the shelf at a different time when the images used tocreate visualization 1517 were captured. The user interface displays apreview image 1523 of another instance of time in the job where the samerecognized product 1507 was replaced by the different product 1519 in acaptured image. By selecting the recognized product 1507 from theproduct recognition pane 1505, a user is quickly able to observe thatthe visualization 1501 and the visualization 1517 are different and thatthe different product 1519 appears where a recognized product 1507should be based on the visualization 1501. The product recognition pane1505 in this example also includes the different product 1521 in thelist of products found in the visualization 1501 and visualization 1517.A user may be able to select the different product 1521 in the productrecognition pane 1505 and the visualization 1517 would update byhighlighting the different product 1519 with a product indicator. Theuser interface in this example provides a user with a feature thatassists in determining compliance with a planogram. A user observing theshelf or an image of the shelf without the visualizations would have adifficult time recognizing that the images of the shelf displayed invisualization 1517 include an error. In some instances a wrong productmay be even more difficult to detect where the price tag or label isalso absent from the shelf. If the price tag or label is missing, therewould be no indication to a user stocking the shelf or manuallyobserving the shelf or images of the shelf that a product is placedincorrectly or that a recognized product is out of stock. Thevisualizations in the timeline allow a user to compare differentvisualizations of shelf over a period of time and easily observe andhighlight differences in the products present on the shelf over time.

The data gathered while presenting these visualizations may also be usedto identify trends in product sales over time. The visualizations in thetimeline may allow a user to observe areas where products sell morequickly and areas of the shelf where products are purchased lessfrequently based on the visualizations. The visualizations may alsoallow a user to determine where errors in stocking and product placementare introduced and avoid making the same errors.

FIG. 16, is a graphical user interface 1600 of another embodiment of theuser interface displaying visualizations in a timeline. In thisembodiment, a visualization 1601 representing a first job and avisualization 1603 representing a second job are displayed. The userinterface module 205 compares the visualization 1601 with thevisualization 1603 and determines if there are differences between thevisualizations. Differences in the visualizations are highlighted by adifference indicator 1605 a on the visualization 1601 and a differenceindicator 1605 b on the visualization 1603. In some embodiments, theuser interface module 205 may further display the difference indicator1605 and a corrective action 1611. For example, the difference indicator1605 b displays a region of the shelf of visualization 1603 that shows a“hidden out of stock” product. The difference indicator 1605 a displaysa correctly stocked product in the visualization 1601 and the differenceindicator 1605 b shows a different product displayed where the correctproduct should have been placed on the shelf (e.g., giving rise to a“hidden out of stock”). A product recognition pane may be displayed toshow products recognized in visualization 1601 and 1603. The recognizedproduct 1607 may correlate to the product displayed in the differenceindicator 1605 a. The recognized product 1609 may correlate the productdisplayed in the difference indicator 1605 b. A user may be able toselect the recognized product 1607 or the recognized product 1609 andaccess a product database. By accessing the product database, a user maybe able to determine if the corrective action provided by the userinterface module 205 is appropriate.

In another embodiment, the user interface module 205 may highlight aregion of a first visualization and a corresponding region of aplanogram. The user interface module 205 may determine that the regionof the first visualization displays a product and that the correspondingregion of the planogram does not display a corresponding product. Insuch an instance, the user interface module 205 may provide a correctiveinstruction based on the planogram. For example, a shelf may display acorrect product in a correct location in the planogram and in the firstvisualization a wrong product may be displayed in that same shelf area.The corrective instruction the user interface module 205 may providewould be to remove the wrong product and replace it with the correctproduct. Corrective instructions may also include restocking a shelfregion when a correct product is determined to be out of stock based onthe second visualization displaying an empty shelf. Using thesecorrective instructions a user may quickly determine planogramcompliance and correct any stocking errors.

A system and method for image recognition result visualization has beendescribed. In the above description, for purposes of explanation,numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the techniques introduced above. It will be apparent,however, to one skilled in the art that the techniques can be practicedwithout these specific details. In other instances, structures anddevices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring thedescription and for ease of understanding. For example, the techniquesare described in one embodiment above primarily with reference tosoftware and particular hardware. However, the present invention appliesto any type of computing system that can receive data and commands, andpresent information as part of any peripheral devices providingservices.

Reference in the specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment”means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic describedin connection with the embodiment is included in at least oneembodiment. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in variousplaces in the specification are not necessarily all referring to thesame embodiment.

Some portions of the detailed descriptions described above are presentedin terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations ondata bits within a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions andrepresentations are, in some circumstances, used by those skilled in thedata processing arts to convey the substance of their work to othersskilled in the art. An algorithm is here, and generally, conceived to bea self-consistent sequence of steps leading to a desired result. Thesteps are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities.Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form ofelectrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred,combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenientat times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to thesesignals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbersor the like.

It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar termsare to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and aremerely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unlessspecifically stated otherwise as apparent from the following discussion,it is appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizingterms such as “processing”, “computing”, “calculating”, “determining”,“displaying”, or the like, refer to the action and processes of acomputer system, or similar electronic computing device, thatmanipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic)quantities within the computer system's registers and memories intoother data similarly represented as physical quantities within thecomputer system memories or registers or other such information storage,transmission or display devices.

The techniques also relate to an apparatus for performing the operationsherein. This apparatus may be specially constructed for the requiredpurposes, or it may comprise a general-purpose computer selectivelyactivated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer.Such a computer program may be stored in a computer readable storagemedium, such as, but is not limited to, any type of disk includingfloppy disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs, and magnetic disks, read-onlymemories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs), EPROMs, EEPROMs,magnetic or optical cards, flash memories including USB keys withnon-volatile memory or any type of media suitable for storing electronicinstructions, each coupled to a computer system bus.

Some embodiments can take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment,an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment containing bothhardware and software elements. One embodiment is implemented insoftware, which includes but is not limited to firmware, residentsoftware, microcode, etc.

Furthermore, some embodiments can take the form of a computer programproduct accessible from a computer-usable or computer-readable mediumproviding program code for use by or in connection with a computer orany instruction execution system. For the purposes of this description,a computer-usable or computer readable medium can be any apparatus thatcan contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program foruse by or in connection with the instruction execution system,apparatus, or device.

A data processing system suitable for storing and/or executing programcode can include at least one processor coupled directly or indirectlyto memory elements through a system bus. The memory elements can includelocal memory employed during actual execution of the program code, bulkstorage, and cache memories which provide temporary storage of at leastsome program code in order to reduce the number of times code must beretrieved from bulk storage during execution.

Input/output or I/O devices (including but not limited to keyboards,displays, pointing devices, etc.) can be coupled to the system eitherdirectly or through intervening I/O controllers.

Network adapters may also be coupled to the system to enable the dataprocessing system to become coupled to other data processing systems orremote printers or storage devices through intervening private or publicnetworks. Modems, cable modem and Ethernet cards are just a few of thecurrently available types of network adapters.

Finally, the algorithms and displays presented herein are not inherentlyrelated to any particular computer or other apparatus. Variousgeneral-purpose systems may be used with programs in accordance with theteachings herein, or it may prove convenient to construct morespecialized apparatus to perform the required method steps. The requiredstructure for a variety of these systems will appear from thedescription below. In addition, the techniques are not described withreference to any particular programming language. It will be appreciatedthat a variety of programming languages may be used to implement theteachings of the various embodiments as described herein.

The foregoing description of the embodiments has been presented for thepurposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the specification to the precise form disclosed.Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the aboveteaching. It is intended that the scope of the embodiments be limitednot by this detailed description, but rather by the claims of thisapplication. As will be understood by those familiar with the art, theexamples may be embodied in other specific forms without departing fromthe spirit or essential characteristics thereof. Likewise, theparticular naming and division of the modules, routines, features,attributes, methodologies and other aspects are not mandatory orsignificant, and the mechanisms that implement the description or itsfeatures may have different names, divisions and/or formats.Furthermore, as will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in therelevant art, the modules, routines, features, attributes, methodologiesand other aspects of the specification can be implemented as software,hardware, firmware or any combination of the three. Also, wherever acomponent, an example of which is a module, of the specification isimplemented as software, the component can be implemented as astandalone program, as part of a larger program, as a plurality ofseparate programs, as a statically or dynamically linked library, as akernel loadable module, as a device driver, and/or in every and anyother way known now or in the future to those of ordinary skill in theart of computer programming. Additionally, the specification is in noway limited to embodiment in any specific programming language, or forany specific operating system or environment. Accordingly, thedisclosure is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of thescope of the specification, which is set forth in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: requesting, using one ormore processors, a job related to a token; receiving, using the one ormore processors, the job related to the token, wherein the job includesa panoramic image and metadata; processing, using the one or moreprocessors, the metadata to extract image recognition information; andcreating, using the one or more processors, a visualization of the job,wherein the visualization includes the panoramic image with the imagerecognition information layered over the panoramic image.
 2. The methodof claim 1 wherein the visualization comprises: highlighting, using theone or more processors, a recognized product in the panoramic imageusing the image recognition information; and displaying, using the oneor more processors, a product recognition list in response to a userselecting the recognized product.
 3. The method of claim 2, comprising,creating the product recognition list by: extracting, using the one ormore processors, a listing of potential candidates that share similarfeatures with the recognized product from the image recognitioninformation; and displaying, using the one or more processors, thelisting of potential candidates.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein anentry in the product recognition list includes a recognition score for acorresponding potential candidate, the recognition score indicatingsimilarity of a feature shared between the recognized product and thecorresponding potential candidate.
 5. The method of claim 2, furthercomprising: displaying, using the one or more processors, a highlightedboundary overlaid on the recognized product in the panoramic image inresponse to the user indicating a correctness of a candidate in theproduct recognition list.
 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:highlighting, using the one or more processors, a portion of thepanoramic image based on recognized products sharing a characteristic.7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: displaying, using the oneor more processors, a boundary around recognized products in thepanoramic image; and removing, using the one or more processors,portions of the panoramic image not associated with the recognizedproducts.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the visualization is a firstvisualization of a first job, the method further comprising: creating,using the one or more processors, a second visualization of a secondjob; comparing, using the one or more processors, the firstvisualization with the second visualization in a single display screenof a user interface; and highlighting, using the one or more processors,differences between the visualization and the second visualization. 9.The method of claim 8, wherein comparing the first visualization withthe second visualization further comprises displaying the firstvisualization and the second visualization in an animation, wherein theanimation toggles between the first visualization and the secondvisualization.
 10. A computer program product comprising a computerusable medium including a computer readable program, wherein thecomputer readable program when executed on a computer causes thecomputer to: request, using one or more processors, a job related to atoken; receive, using the one or more processors, the job related to thetoken, wherein the job includes a panoramic image and metadata; process,using the one or more processors, the metadata to extract imagerecognition information; and create, using the one or more processors, avisualization of the job, wherein the visualization includes thepanoramic image with the image recognition information layered over thepanoramic image.
 11. The computer program product of claim 10 whereinthe visualization comprises: highlighting, using the one or moreprocessors, a recognized product in the panoramic image using the imagerecognition information; and displaying, using the one or moreprocessors, a product recognition list in response to a user selectingthe recognized product.
 12. The computer program product of claim 11,wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computerfurther causes the computer to create the product recognition list to:extract, using the one or more processors, a listing of potentialcandidates that share similar features with the recognized product fromthe image recognition information; and display, using the one or moreprocessors, the listing of potential candidates.
 13. The computerprogram product of claim 11, wherein the computer readable program whenexecuted on a computer further causes the computer to: display, usingthe one or more processors, a highlighted boundary overlaid on therecognized product in the panoramic image in response to the userindicating a correctness of a candidate in the product recognition list.14. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the visualizationis a first visualization of a first job, wherein the computer readableprogram when executed on a computer further causes the computer to:creating, using the one or more processors, a second visualization of asecond job; compare, using the one or more processors, the firstvisualization with the second visualization in a single display screenof a user interface; and highlight, using the one or more processors,differences between the visualization and the second visualization. 15.A system comprising: a processor; and a memory storing instructionsthat, when executed, cause the system to: request, using one or moreprocessors, a job related to a token; receive, using the one or moreprocessors, the job related to the token, wherein the job includes apanoramic image and metadata; process, using the one or more processors,the metadata to extract image recognition information; and create, usingthe one or more processors, a visualization of the job, wherein thevisualization includes the panoramic image with the image recognitioninformation layered over the panoramic image.
 16. The system of claim 15wherein the memory also stores instructions that, when executed causethe system to: highlighting, using the one or more processors, arecognized product in the panoramic image using the image recognitioninformation; and displaying, using the one or more processors, a productrecognition list in response to a user selecting the recognized product.17. The system of claim 16, the memory also stores instructions that,when executed cause the system to create the product recognition listby: extracting, using the one or more processors, a listing of potentialcandidates that share similar features with the recognized product fromthe image recognition information; and displaying, using the one or moreprocessors, the listing of potential candidates.
 18. The system of claim16, wherein an entry in the product recognition list includes arecognition score for a corresponding potential candidate, therecognition score indicating similarity of a feature shared between therecognized product and the corresponding potential candidate.
 19. Thesystem of claim 16, wherein the memory also stores instructions that,when executed cause the system to: display, using the one or moreprocessors, a highlighted boundary overlaid on the recognized product inthe panoramic image in response to the user indicating a correctness ofa candidate in the product recognition list.
 20. The system of claim 15,wherein the visualization is a first visualization of a first job, andwherein the memory also stores instructions that, when executed causethe system to: creating, using the one or more processors, a secondvisualization of a second job; comparing, using the one or moreprocessors, the first visualization with the second visualization in asingle display screen of a user interface; and highlighting, using theone or more processors, differences between the visualization and thesecond visualization.